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Achieving the Dream Joined AtD Summer 2011 (9 colleges in District) Lumina Foundation, AtD is a social justice movement to increase equity in success by minority students 5 Goals of AtD: –Students Successfully complete the courses they take –Students Advance from remedial to credit-bearing courses –Students Enroll in and successfully complete gatekeeper courses –Students Enroll from one semester to the next –Students Earn degrees and/or certificates Commit to find out “why” there are gaps in attainment Examine “how” to eliminate barriers in order to achieve equity

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Component One Component Two Component Three Component Four “What’s Wrong?” (Outcome Measures) “Why?” (Underlying Factors) Intervention(s)Evaluation & Modification Use Longitudinal, Disaggregated, Cohort data to assess Student Success Outcomes (e.g., Persistence, Course Completion rates, Degree comp. rates) to determine: 1) Which student groups are less successful than others (Equity Gaps in Student Success). 2) Which high enrollment courses have the lowest success rates. Collect, analyze, and use second set of LOCAL data to identify the underlying factors (barriers or challenges) impeding student success: Focus Groups Surveys Literature Reviews Learning Outcome Assessment Use data from Component Two to revise or design new interventions to effectively address the underlying factors impeding student success. Review and consider changes to existing college policies that impact the underlying factors impeding student success. Many Colleges: (a) Skip (b) Loosely rely on national literature (Engagement) (c) Lack a local understanding based on qualitative data Collect, analyze, and use evaluation data to answer: 1) To what extent did the interventions (or policy changes) effectively address the underlying factors impeding student success? 2) To what extent did the interventions increase student success? Make modifications based on evaluation results. Reference:Gonzalez, K. P. (2009). Using data to increase student success: A focus on diagnosis. Achieving the Dream Inc. www.achievingthedream.org

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OUR DATA TEAM’S PROCESS OF INQUIRY AND DIALOGUE What are our “pain points”? –Retention, Completion, Success What additional data would be useful to know? What “research questions” should drive our data campaign? What data do we have versus what do we need? What approach do we want to take?

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Advice about attending college Focus Group Results Sources of advice Latino Males – Sisters, brothers, cousins, aunt, uncle, grandfather, parents and family, Counselor, high school teacher African American Males – Counselors at high school– “the ones that actually care”, parents, sports, Boys and Girls Club African American Females – High school teachers, parents, “Counselors at the college once I got here and was struggling”

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What do you do when your Academic Skills don’t match current demands? Focus Group Results Latino Males – “Find help. Teacher/family member” 1 occurrence – “Don’t have time to seek out help” 4 occurrences – “Take a personal day to clear my mind and focus” 2 occurrences – “Get an extra resource book, use YouTube” 1 occurrence African American Males – Study groups, Read, Library, Study and don’t go out too much, “Ask the teacher. Talk to the teacher and get to know them. Establish some kind of relationship” African American Females – Ask a counselor or a teacher (both participants), go to the lab Pilot groups – SPS program; see the Professor, go to office hours, ask peers

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Equity Focus Group Results Subtle issues of tension between Latino Males and African American males. Groups gave examples which reflected discomfort. Overall though, students indicated… – “everyone goes to class for the same reason” – “never seen a fight here” – “People are here only for class. Get in and get out.” Gender issues identified by Latino Male groups – “one of my [male] professors is more helpful and friendly to the young, pretty female students. It’s happened 3 times. Just because I am not a cute girl, you still need to help me” – “I had a female teacher who wouldn’t answer this girl’s questions. She would give [the questions] to me to ask for her” Finances – No feelings of “have’s” versus “have not’s” – “affects being able to afford things” – “At times cannot purchase books [so] can’t do homework” – “Financial aid helps pay for school, insurance, gas, a lot, but it is tight”

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What would an Urban Center offer? Focus Group results: It would help students connect. Would want to see concerts for a small fee. “The big space up in Seahawk is a ‘waste of space’ because it isn’t used” “A better selection of activities and things to do at Seahawk would make me want to stay and spend time on campus” “Seahawk is a big place and yet people don’t use it” “Nothing is open in the evenings, except the library, which is when I am here” “Computers would be beneficial” Space like at “CSU-DH where they have couches, chairs, tables, electronics” “A place to have a beer after class would be a draw for people to stick around” (group laughed)

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Faculty & Staff Development Evaluation Very positive evaluations of “Finish Line” “Opens opportunity to learn, understand each other better” Student clubs will play during Oct. meetings similar measurement to follow up. Follow-up & measurement tool development currently underway

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Improving our Practice Suggestions for interventions Suggestions for evaluation/measurement Feedback on Urban Center – How would you staff in ZERO budget environment? – How to create a “program” in ZERO budget environment?